Dumbo Retailer West Elm to Open Its Empire Stores Flagship This Month

Dumbo-based home furnishings company West Elm will be the first tenant to open in the massive and neighborhood-changing 146-year-old coffee warehouse-turned-retail hub Empire Stores.

The grand opening of its new flagship is set for August 18 at 8 a.m., the retailer revealed in an email Wednesday. West Elm is leasing a third of the historic building and will also have its offices there.

Photo by Hannah Frishberg

Other retail tenants — including the Brooklyn Historical Society, which will have a museum space on the second floor — will open for business sometime in early 2017, a spokeswoman for Empire Stores’ developer Midtown Equities said.

The building itself will open to the public “a few months from now,” she added.

Since West Elm has an exterior entrance, shoppers will not yet be able to explore the rest of the complex, and must await its completion.

Photo by Hannah Frishberg

Long abandoned, the waterfront Empire Stores warehouse complex will bring stores, restaurants, offices and a significant amount of public space to the area, including a rooftop garden and stadium seating. The building is landmarked; its historic facade is being restored, and the roof will be getting a glassy addition.

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